The Shunning
Authors: Susan Joseph
The Shunning
By
Susan Joseph
(c)2011 by Blushing Books(r) and Susan Joseph
Copyright (c) 2011 by Blushing Books(r) and Susan Joseph.
All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Joseph, Susan
The Shunning
eBook ISBN: 978-1-60968-633-8
Cover Design by ABCD Graphics
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This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.
Prologue
April 20, 1986
Ruth looked at her husband, kneeling in front of the Bishops and the Preacher, and felt a sense of shame course through her as the six week shunning was announced. She and Melvin were married less than a year earlier with the Amish community they were raised in looking on, and now this same community found it necessary to vote for a shunning because Melvin refused to accept the Ordnung after making his kneeling vows. Their farm was doing poorly and Melvin found it necessary to lunchpail it every day to an Englisch owned factory to make enough money for them to live. They had no other family here; Melvin was an only child, which was rare in an Amish family, but his Mama nearly died giving birth to him, and there were no more children. When Melvin was only twenty years old his parents were killed when their buggy was struck by a speeding car as they were on their way home from a frolic at a neighboring farm.
After Ruth was married to Melvin, her parents took her younger siblings and moved to another state where they could buy more land to farm. Ruth had five younger brothers, and her Dat felt that moving was the only choice he had to make sure he could buy enough land for his sons to farm in the traditional way. Never had Ruth been more thankful than she was right now that her Dat and Mama were not here to see her shame and witness the people's decision to shun Melvin in the hopes he would repent of his wrongful ways. Working with the Englisch had given him a longing for fancy things.
Once the decision was announced, Melvin lost his quick temper, shaming Ruth even more. He rose to his feet and cursed the community, declaring that he was done with the old ways. He walked to where Ruth was seated and grabbed her hand, jerking her to her feet. "We are leaving here, Ruth."
Ruth was too stunned to argue. She knew that many times a husband or a wife chose to share in their spouse's shunning, but Melvin did not ask her opinion. And she did not know what she would do if he did ask. Ruth had a child growing within her, and that child would need its father. She packed their belongings and did the only thing she felt she could do; she followed her husband as he sold the farm he inherited from generations before him, and moved them to Cincinnati where he easily found work in another factory. Melvin shaved off his beard and insisted she wear Englisch clothing. Ruth was not happy, but she had no one she could turn to. Wedding vows were sacred and lasted a lifetime. To keep peace in her home, she obeyed her husband.
It was only two months after her baby was born that Melvin was killed. There was an accident at work, and he was crushed. Ruth buried her husband and did her best to go on as a single parent. Even though she herself was not shunned, her Dat and Mama shunned her for allowing Melvin to yank her over to the Englisch ways. Ruth was alone in a strange world, with a baby to raise by herself.
Chapter One
February 2011
Sadie Miller looked outside the front door of the restaurant in dismay. Wade was not here in his van to pick her up from work and her shift ended thirty minutes ago! This was quite unusual, and normally she would just shrug and walk home to her Dat and Mama's farm, but given the weather, she did not look forward to walking five miles in what amounted to a blizzard! She paid Wade every day to provide transportation to and from her job, and she knew full well that her stubborn Dat would not come looking for her. He did not approve of her job at the restaurant even though he willingly accepted her weekly paycheck, which she was required to turn over to him until she was twenty-one years of age. It was her rumspringa time of life, but her Dat was very strict and she had rules that she must obey, even at the age of eighteen. She knew that he feared she would be yanked over and away from the old ways, and all of her promises that she would not permit this to happen were for naught. Dat expected obedience in all things, even during the time she was permitted by the Ordnung to run around and experience life.
Sadie waited another ten minutes, while the storm grew worse, and then decided she had no choice but to get on home. Her Dat would be upset if she were late to do her chores before it was time to go to bed. The first gust of cold air took her breath away, but Sadie braced herself, and pulled her heavy shawl closer. She feared it would be a long walk indeed with the wind whipping the wet snow at her face, stinging her skin. Still, there was no help for it. Sadie started walking, thankful that she had at least worn boots to keep her shoes dry.
She noticed that most of the cars out and about were driving slowly on the treacherous roads, and none of her people seemed to be out in the horrible weather. If they were, one of them would stop and offer to take her home. Suddenly, a car veered around a curve, much too fast for the road conditions, and slid, narrowly missing her. The driver did not stop to even ask if she was all right, choosing instead to show his contempt for the fact she was Amish by raising his hand and sticking up his middle finger. Sadie knew what the gesture meant and she felt tears fill her eyes. The Englischer did not know her but judged her based on her clothing. She was used to tourists coming into the county with their cameras and asking rude questions, but this young man acted as though he hated her, and she had done nothing to earn his displeasure. Another car pulled to a stop and a man quickly got from behind the steering wheel and came around the car to help her from the ditch.
"What are you doing out in the middle of this storm, young lady?" he asked, his voice deep and firm.
Sadie had been taught it was rude not to answer when asked a question. "The man who drives me back and forth from work did not show up to take me home," she admitted. "I must walk."
"Get in my car and I will drive you home," he ordered.
Sadie was shocked. She did not know the man and her Dat would surely disapprove if she allowed a stranger, an Englischer, to drive her home. "No, but thank you for offering." She started walking again, only to have him reach out and stop her progress.
"I can understand that you might be afraid of me since we've never met, but I promise I won't hurt you. My name is Samuel Hilty. Now come with me and I'll take you home."
"No, I will walk. Thank you, Samuel Hilty." She tried once more to walk away, but Samuel stopped her.
"Am I going to have to spank you, young lady?" he asked.
"What? I am grown, and you have no right to spank me!" Sadie told him, the shock in her pretty brown eyes visible to him.
"You are being foolish and stubborn, and it is dangerous to stand here arguing. If another car comes around that curve too fast, we could both be killed. Now do as I say or I am going to turn you over my knee and give you a good bletching."
Sadie looked at him in surprise at his use of that particular word. Most Englisch did not understand the language used by the people. She would have recognized him if he was from one of the families in her district, even if he'd decided not to kneel before the community and join their membership. Suddenly, he seemed to lose patience with her while she was trying to figure him out. He grabbed her from behind with an arm around her waist, and lifted her off her feet and started spanking her as if she were a small child. His hand fell hard once, twice, and three times before he spoke.
"You are going to get into this car right now, young lady, and permit me to drive you home. Do you understand, or do I need to give you a bletching you will remember for a good long while?" Samuel asked quietly.
"You do not understand! Dat will be very angry and displeased if I accept a ride with you. You are not known to him, and he is strict with his rules. I am not permitted to speak with strangers, nor accept rides with them. Dat will make me quit my job!" she cried out, certain she was speaking the absolute truth. Why, she would be lucky if Dat would give her a chance to explain what happened before he sent her to the woodshed to wait for him with her apron pulled aside and her skirt lifted past her waist to show her white cotton panties. Just picturing herself in that position made her cry out. "Please, sir, put me down!"
"I guess you need another good spanking," Samuel told her, suiting actions to words. He proved that her heavy dress was not a deterrent as he spanked her bottom over and over again. He was sure he heard her sniffling and said, "I am taking you home, Miss, and I will explain to your Dat." With those words he easily put her in the car with an order to fasten her seat belt.
Sadie's fingers were shaking as she did as he said, and then she wiped the tears from her cheeks with the backs of her hands, thankful that no one came along and witnessed her humiliation at the side of the snow covered road. Such a disgrace would surely bring the Bishop to call to discuss her behavior with her Dat. It was a mortification she could live without. She swiped at her eyes again as he got into the car and behind the steering wheel.
Samuel turned the heat higher and set the fan to a higher speed. "You are shaking from the cold," he explained to her as he reached for a packet of tissues and handed her one. "Please don't cry. I am not going to harm you, and I will be sure to tell your Dat that I gave you no choice in the matter once I saw how close that other driver came to hitting you."
"He will think it all my fault," she whispered.
"I will make it very clear to him that it is not." He looked at her and asked with a smile, "Would you tell me your name?"
"I am Sadie Miller. Levi's Sadie," she added by habit more than anything else. The warmth of the car felt good to her cold toes.
"Where do you live, Levi's Sadie?" he asked, his blue eyes twinkling in good humor.
"Straight down this road for a while, then to the right."
"You will give me a warning before we reach the road we need to turn on? I am recently come here to make my home, and am not completely familiar with the community."
"Why have you come here, Samuel? We are a community of plain people. You will not find much to your liking."
"I have already found much to my liking," he said, looking at her with admiration in his eyes. I know it is not the way to offer compliments, but I find you very pretty. Why do you work if your Dat tells you no?" he wanted to know. "I thought women and children were taught obedience?"
"I am obedient!" she assured the stranger who dared to tell her she was pretty, of all things, and then accuse her of willfulness and disobedience in the next breath. "Dat does not approve of my working, but he does not forbid it... yet."
The look she leveled on him told Samuel that she expected to be told she could not go back to the restaurant on the morrow for accepting the ride home he offered. She turned to look out the window at the swirling snow and then she tried to squirm without being obvious. "Surely I didn't hurt you with that little bletching?"
"Of course not!" she lied, her cheeks turning pink with embarrassment. "You had no right to do that. I am grown, not a little child!"
"I happen to believe it does more good to spank a grown woman than it does to spank a child. Is this our road?" he asked, focused on the road and the swirling snow that was making it nearly impossible to see.
"No, not yet. There are Millers who live on that road, however; Dat's brother Abram, for one, and his cousin Simon as well."
"Yes, the Millers are a large family." He nodded as if he had knowledge of this.
"Why here, Samuel?" Sadie asked him once again.
"I am keeping a promise, Sadie. I wish to know more of the Amish and their faith, the Ordnung of this district, and if I am meant to be here within the community."
"I have known of no Englisch man who has taken kneeling vows and joined the membership; only one woman has done so, and my Mama feels Nancy is not happy with her choice, but lives the Ordnung out of love for her husband."